Means for preventing wear in the crotch of trousers



' H. A. FUNK MEANS FOR PREVENTING WEAR IN THE CROTCH 0F TROUSERS Filed Oct. 12, 1923 gwuenfozf I QHIMM cq Patented Oct. 20, 1925.

f UNITED. STATES j 'HElNRY etronx, or s'r, LOITIS, nrssoURr.

MEnns'roR PREVENTING'WEAR In ran c no'ircnyw TROUSERS.

Application filed October-12, 1923. Serial n ess,o54.

T o-aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that L-Hnnnr- A. FUNK, a

* citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the Stateof Missouri,

have invented certain new and-useful Improvements in Means for Preventing ear in the Crotch of Trousers, of which the following is aspecification.

and forth motionof the wearers legs in i walking, the portions of the legs thereof conof the underwear against the inside of the tiguous to the crotch are subjected to a good deal of wear because of the resulting fric tion. Such wear usuallybegins from the inside of the trousers, because of the rubbing crotch of the trousers. The wear is espe cially liable to occur in the region pressing against the testicles.- 1 I One of the objects of thisinvention is t retard such mechanical wear of the crotch.

Another object is to prevent the rotting aind"disooloration of the material of the trousers in that particular location by the perspiration, sweat, or-o-ther matters. that maybe exudedfrom the body.

"Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the description proceeds' In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pair of trousers to which my invention has been applied, the near leg being shown lifted to exposethe crotch;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the same on a larger scale, looking at the inside of the trousers when the legs are spread apart;

Figure 3 is a view of a rear leg-section of a pair of trousers, as it appears when out from the cloth preparatory to forming the complete pair of trousers, and embodying this invention; and

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

A substantially triangular-shaped shield l of fabric or cloth, having a rubber facing 2 on one side, iss'ecured by means of'stitches of thread 3 to theinside of the trousers with the rubber-faced side of the shield against the inside of the underside section 4' of the trousers, or that portion thereof cut to make up the rear of a trousers leg 5. The under-.

side section 4 is shown developed as cut in Figure-3. The curved edge 6 of the shield 1 is sewed to the: curved seat seam 7 ofthe underside section 4, and the short'straight edge 80f the shield is sewed to the inseam 9 of the said section. The thread 3 is preferably, but not necessarily, the same thread which is customarily used along the out edges of the component sections to prevent thej'unraveling of the cloth at the said edges. In a. pair of trousers, as is well known, there are two such rear leg-sections4, one being cut right hand, and the other left hand,- and both. sections are preferably. provided With shields 1, which are cut right and left hand respectively, according to which hand rear leg-section 4 they are tobe applied.

When-the sections 4 have been prepared" and have attached thereto the shields 1, and

when all the other sections, comprising a pair of trousers have been completed, such component parts are sewn together inthe conventional manner, at their seams, to form a complete whole as best shown in Figures l, 2, and 4. Thesea-ms 12 are formedby fold ing over together the common edges ofthe section4 and their intimately-contiguous shields 1, as best shown; in Figure 4. The

thread 13 passes through the shield/1 and the sections of cloth at the sea-ms12, thus securing the parts tog ether. It has been determined by experiment that the coeflicient of frictionbetween a rubber surface and a fabric or cloth surface is very much less than that betw'eenthe contacting surfaces of two contiguous fabrics. It can, therefore, be readily understood that in placing the rubber facing of the shield 1 against the inside of the cloth of the crotch 14 of the trousers 11, any tendency towards wearing away of the cloth in that region will b materially lessened, since any fr1ction betweenthe rubber facing 2 and the inside of the crotch 14, due to the motion of the wearers legs in walking, will be much less than that which might occur were the underwear of the wearer directly in contact with the cloth of the trousers. Sheeting of rubber alone, and having 11 fabric reinforcement or backing, may be used instead of the sheeting hereinbefore described, having fabric on one side and rubber on the other. However, it is preferable to have that side of the shield, adjacent to the wearer, constructed of fabric, because, in pressing the garment, the heat of the iron can not be transmitted directly to the rubher, but is applied against the fabric, which thus protects the rubber. The sheeting can be made of very thin material, which is clesirable, for thecrotch is a place where any increase of thickness may prove annoying to the wearer.

. It is to be noted that the lines of stitching securing the shields 1 to the crotch are those which are conventionally used to sew the back and inside seams, and no additional stitching, such as might impair the looks of the garment if visible from the outside, is needed. Furthermore, the long diagonal edge of the shield 1 is not fastened tothe trousers, but is movable thereto, resulting in greater latitude of movement and comfort to the wearer. However, it is not to be understood that this invention is limited in scope to this precise mode of fastening the shield to the crotch, but any suitable method, by other forms of stitching or other means, may be employed.

Attention is also directed to the fact that the shield is preferably, though not neces sarily, made in sections separated 'by the seams, instead of in a single piece, so that it follows intimately the configuration of the trousers at' the seams as well as elsewhere, with increased comfort to the wearer.

For the purpose of facilitating the manufacture of the shields in large quantities, the shield is made of such dimensions as to fit the largest size of trousers, the shield being adapted to the smaller sizes by cutting off a portion of the shield. In this connection, it is to be noted in Figure 3, thatthe diagonal edge of the shield 1 is not joined directly to the edges 6 and 8, but is connected to, the intermediate edges 16 and 17 which are approximately perpendicular to the edge 15, and are connected to the edges 6 and 8 respectively. Any surplus of material in the shield is taken care of by folding or tucking under the edge 15 or by cutting off material along the edge 15 to bring the same closer to the edges 6 and 8.

The shield, being of rubber, also protects that part of the trousers, which its covers, from rotting and discoloration by the perspiration, sweat or other matters that may be exuded from the body; For this purpose a shield of any imperviousmaterial may be used, whether or rubber or other material, and irrespective of any qualities. it might or might not possess for minimizing the 6 friction against the crotch of the trousers.

This invention is not restricted in its use to the crotch of trousers, but may be applied to other parts of garments.

Neither is it desired to be understood as being limited to the use of rubber for the purpose of reducing or retarding frictional wear of the garment, but any suitable material having similar friction reducing qualities may be substituted-for rubber sheeting.

Having-thus described this invention, I hereby reserve the benefit of all changes in form, arrangement, order, or use of parts, as it is evident that many minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

A shield for protecting trousers wh'ich eonsists of two triangularshaped members disposed one on each side of the crotch on the inside of the trousers and secured along two of its edges to the seams of the crotch, the other edge being left free to permit a slight degree of movement of the member with respect to the cloth of the crotch, said triangular-shaped, members signature.

' HENRY A. FUNK. v

. 8t the crotch of i 

